Best

IF and ONLY IF someone on your list of people to shop for ASKS for a fitness gift (see Tuesday’s post for why we should never give unsolicited fitness gifts), here are my suggestions for the best ones:

 

1.     TRX.  I love TRX because it doesn’t take up a lot of space and it can be used in so many ways to build strength and stability.  Everything we do with TRX uses our core musculature.  It can be supportive (say for people with knee issues) and challenging.

2.     Stability balls.  Again, stability balls are versatile.  They add an element of instability to our usual exercises.  We can use them as an alternative to our standard desk chairs for variety.  And we can use them as Jedi mind tricks to convince ourselves that what we are doing must be fun because it involves a great big bouncy ball.

3.     Resistance bands.  I like the ones with handles.  They don’t take up a lot of space, they travel well (remember travel?), and they can be used to work out pretty much every body part.

4.     A workout buddy.  Seriously.  One of the biggest fitness gifts we can give is our support in the form of somebody to go with (safely and in a socially distant manner, if you are not already in the same household).  Commit to a daily or weekly walk/run/bike/swim/weight session.  This one is even free!!!!

Both!

Sometimes it seems like I say things that contradict each other.  It might even be true sometimes!  I do try to follow the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Silly!), but that can lead to oversimplifying.  So, now that I’ve blathered on a bit, I will provide some clarity, or nuance.  Hmm… I think I just demonstrated my problem.  Maybe an example will help.

 

I often write about the power of routine.  When we get in the habit of working out, we don’t have to waste a lot of energy getting ourselves started.  We do it like we brush our teeth, same thing daily.

 

And I also often write about the power of doing something different.  New experiences challenge our bodies and brains.

 

Which is true?  Both!  Life is full of nuance.  We want to have a routine for working out, but we also want to change up what we do from time to time.  It’s like getting a new toothbrush or a different flavor of paste, or remembering that flossing is good for us, too.  We want to use the influence of our good habits and apply that to doing bigger and better things.  And it is never bad to practice holding two different ideas in our heads at the same time.

 

Go play.

Bad Gift: No cookie

This holiday season I am repeating a very important piece of advice because sometimes we need reminding.  DO NOT give anyone unsolicited fitness stuff for whatever holidays you celebrate.  It will not go well.

 

Here’s why.  There’s this whole scale of readiness for change.  It ranges from not even thinking about it yet to taking action.  We can’t get ready for change for someone else.  We may think they should be ready to change.  We may love them and want what is best for them.  We may think we are being helpful.  We are wrong.

 

Our dear ones will not thank us, at least not sincerely.  They may feel guilty or resentful or inadequate or pressured, but they will not feel supported and loved.

 

None of us can change anybody else.  This is actually good news because it frees us up to work on what we CAN change, which is our own behavior.  If we want to buy fitness stuff, we can buy it for ourselves.  If our loved ones get interested, maybe we can share with them.

Monday Workout: Challenge

We’re continuing to work on stability with a side of upper body strength.  All these asymmetrical exercises give us extra core challenge!  Three rounds.

 

suitcase swings	30
renegade rows	20
1 leg bridge	10
squat or jump squat	30
flies or 1 arm flies	20
YTA	10
overhead march	30
twist	20
plank/side plank

Only Two

Today’s list is short, but not sweet.  Here in the holiday season, I would like to remind everyone of my two favorite nutritional guidelines:

 

1.     Eat vegetables.  Lots of them.  Lots of different kinds.  Lots of different colors.  They add vitamins, minerals, micronutrients, and fiber to our diets.  They taste good.

2.     Drink water.  A lot of us go around slightly dehydrated all the time.  This makes us cranky, sore, headachy, and inefficient.  Water helps a lot of our bodily processes work.  Some of us find that it helps us control our appetites.  We know if we are drinking enough water if we have to go to the bathroom every hour or so.

Instructive Fictional Story

There are many reasons to look askance at Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  What is up with a little girl barging into people’s houses?  And what kind of parents don’t comfort their little one when disaster strikes?  And what laws of physics govern the temperature of porridge anyway?  These issues aside, Goldilocks has one useful thing to demonstrate to us in our fitness journey:  the just right.

 

I’m sure we all know the feeling we get when we overdo the workout.  We curse whoever invented stairs.  We count the seconds until we can have another dose of ibuprofen.  We vow never to move again, ever.  That would be the Papa Bear Too Hot Porridge problem.

 

But we also know the feeling when we’ve been stuck at our desks too long.  Our backs whine at us.  Our hips freeze in an uncomfortable bent position.  We know exactly what our shoulders sound like because they are glued up by our ears.  This is the Mama Bear Too Cold Porridge problem.

 

We want to aim for Baby Bear.  Goldilocks likes Baby Bear’s choices.  Baby Bear works out enough that he is not too sore but enough that he’s not too stiff either.  He is tired enough at the end of the day to sleep well in his just right bed.  Of all the people in the story, it is Baby Bear who is most likely to live happily ever after, once he gets some breakfast and fixes his chair.

 

Be like Baby Bear. 

Cautionary True Story

Last week, my dad fell.  What does that have to do with fitness?  It’s a cautionary tale.

 

See, my dad is in his eighties.  When he was young, he played pretty much every sport there was.  He also smoked for more than 40 years.  One of those things resulted in worn out knees and the other in lung surgery.  He has a variety of other typical health issues in a person of his age and lifestyle, controlled by various medications.

 

Aging happens to all of us whether we like it or not.  However, we have some choices to make.

 

See, when my dad had a knee replacement, he didn’t like doing his physical therapy exercises.  They hurt.  They were hard.  He shirked them as much as possible.  And now his replacement knee does not work as well as it should and he chose not to get the other knee replaced because he was unhappy with the results on the first one.  In other words, he still has two bad knees.

 

The bad knees mean it is hard for him to move from sitting to standing and it is challenging to walk.  So most of the time, he doesn’t do it.  What that means is that he has very little cardio endurance, which makes it harder to go for a walk, which means he is even less likely to do it.  See where I’m going here?

 

But last week, he and my mom took their little dog for a short walk to the end of their block.  On the way back, my dad lagged behind.  He wanted to stop at the end of their walkway by the car to catch his breath.  My mom took the dog inside.  And then my dad fell.

 

End result:  a visit from the paramedics, bruises to elbows, knees, and pride.  He is going to be all right, but he would be better if he had done some preventive work.

 

The take-aways:

• put up with a little discomfort now in keeping up the cardio

• our privilege level does not translate into speedier or better healing; we still have to work.

• consistent, small actions make big differences

• always listen to your physical therapist, even if you do not like what they say

 

Go play.